Chapter 2 ~ To the Burrow Once Again
Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys were sitting in the Great Hall at the Gryffindor Table. Harry and Hermione were waiting for the carriages to take them to the train while the Weasleys were waiting for their mother to get out of a talk with Dumbledore. The Beauxbaton and Durmstrang students had already left for their schools. The Great Hall was deserted and quiet – much how Harry preferred it to be.
"Harry, are you going to be alright," Hermione asked him.
Harry had his head lain on the table, covered partially by his hands, "I don't know yet," his deep voice broke through heavy and muffled, "I have caused so many bad things…why couldn't I have just died the first time Voldemort tried to kill me? Why?"
"Don't say that, Harry," Ron exclaimed, "You have done the impossible. I think it is time to step aside and allow Dumbledore to take over from here. You have done the best you could."
Harry considered for a moment listening to Ron about stepping aside and looked up at his best friend, "I have done the best I could? Do you think that allowing Voldemort to come back and killing Cedric is doing the best I can against evil? Yes, I am bloody brilliant when it comes to things like that!"
Ron opened his mouth to say something when Mrs. Weasley and Dumbledore appeared. They walked up to the group of kids.
"Harry, Hermione," Mrs. Weasley began, "Headmaster Dumbledore and I have been talking and I have convinced him to allow the two of you to stay at the Burrow over the summer, as long as it is alright with your parents and guardians."
Harry's face brightened up for the first time since he had been face to face with Voldemort about five hours ago. Hermione smiled at Harry as he nodded.
"Let me send an owl to the Dursleys," Harry replied.
"Allow me to do the same to my parents," Hermione said, "I am sure they will have no problem with it."
Mrs. Weasley's chubby face lit up and her mouth curved into a warm, gentle smile, "I am so delighted that you have accepted my offer. It is always such a pleasure to have the two of you around!"
"Thank you so much, Mrs. Weasley," Harry replied.
"Yes, thank you," Hermione added, "You have no idea how much we enjoy being invited to your home, especially since we are only children…for the most part."
Harry and Hermione left to send letters to their relatives and got ready for their trip back to the Burrow again.
"Here we are," Mrs. Weasley exclaimed as she and the seven kids walked into the Burrow, "Well, I dare say – this house feels much more lively with Harry and Hermione here. Why don't you all go upstairs? Dinner will be ready when Arthur and Percy get home."
The children did as was told. Harry followed Ron to the familiar room, covered in Chudley Cannon Quidditch team posters, and put his stuff on one of the beds. With a long sigh, he looked at Ron.
"Harry, everything is going to be alright," Ron assured him, "You are going to love this summer! You can play Quidditch whenever you'd like, we can play Wizard's Chess and help each other with our summer work."
Harry smiled, "When things are horrible, you look at the good side of things. When things are good, you look at the bad side of things…I just don't get you, Ron."
"What is there to get," Ron asked.
Harry shrugged, "At least we wont have any Snape to worry about."
"That's the spirit," Ron exclaimed, slapping him on the back, "Lets go see what Fred and George are up to."
Harry and Ron walked across the hall. As they reached the closed door of Fred and George's bedroom, pops, fizzes and other sound effects could be heard coming from the inside.
"Sounds like Fred and George haven't been wasting any time," Ron said.
Harry knocked on the door, "Fred? George? It's Harry. May Ron and I come in?"
"Of course," George yelled.
"Just the two guys we were hoping to see," Fred said as Harry and Ron entered the room, "We have just invented a new Wizard Wheeze that we would like your approval of."
Ron's eyes grew wide and scared, "Oh, no. Not this again. Last summer, I was turned into a canary at least one hundred times."
"Oh, don't worry. There are guaranteed to be some of the best Wizard Wheezes known to the world," George exclaimed.
"George and I have been brainstorming all year and waiting to come back and slave over the cauldron," Fred added, "However, there is too much work for two people to handle over the summer so – we need some partners. What do you guys say to 'Three Weasleys and a Potter – the Wizard Wheezes of the Century'?"
Harry smiled, "You don't have to put my name in there but I would love to help."
"Too late, Harry. Our minds are made up," George informed him, "Are you in, Ron?"
"Sure," he replied, happy that he was finally being accepted by his older brothers, "I'll join."
Fred smiled, "Great. This business will definitely be booming this year. Mum wont find out about this again ---"
"As long as you keep your room clean. That is how she found out about them in the first place," Ron pointed out.
George rubbed his chin, "You have a point there, Ron. That can be part of your job – to keep mum from suspecting things."
"This business will be split up evenly – 25% between all of us," Fred explained, "Everyone will get credit for everything."
Harry smiled and looked around at everything that the twins use to make their pranks.
"You guys are pretty low on some of these ingredients," he observed.
"Yeah, we know," George said, "Mum tried to throw a lot of our stuff away so that we couldn't make anymore pranks. We never made enough money to buy more supplies."
"Well, hey," Harry began, "I have those Galleons that I won from the Triwizard Tournament. We can use some of those to get supplies."
"No, don't worry about it, Harry," Fred said, "We can use what we have."
"Nonsense! This is a business – it is mine as much as it is yours and I am going to use my Tournament money to help my colleagues," Harry insisted.
"Alright, but how are we going to get to Diagon Alley," Ron asked, "Mum wont take us unless she knows exactly what we are going to do."
"Mum doesn't have to take us, Ron," George said, "We have floo powder and a fireplace. Do the math."
"Wouldn't mum notice if we left in the middle of the day," Ron asked.
Fred slapped Ron in the back of the head, "Dude, we go at night!"
"Are any of the shops open at night," Harry asked.
"Yeah, but only if you know where to look."
Ron looked at his brother with a look of confusion on his face and Harry spoke up.
"Knockturn Alley?"
"Bingo."
"Are you bloody well out of your mind," Ron exclaimed, "Mum would have more than your heads if she found out that you two have been down in Knockturn Alley!"
"She won't find out if no one opens their big mouth," Fred said, looking at Ron.
"Don't look at me," he exclaimed, "I am not going to say anything!"
"Good," George replied and pulled a second cauldron out from the closet, "We have been working on a new toy. This is a sample of it."
He picked up a small, golden bouncy ball that was to resemble a Snitch. It had the Gryffindor coat of arms on it and "Harry Potter" stamped across the front.
"This," George began, "is a ball with a big mouth. Allow me to demonstrate."
He dropped the ball onto the ground. Immediately when it hit, a voice came out singing:
"Harry Potter is our man,
"If he can't do it, nobody can!
"He'll fly circles around the Pitch,
"He will make Malfoy his bitch!"
Harry smiled, "Bloody hell! That is going to get us in loads of trouble!"
"That, my dear Potter, is what we Weasleys live for."
George smiled and Harry replied, "What else does it say?"
The four of them bounced the ball around for a while, listening as it cheered for Harry and then proceeded to insult Malfoy. After a while, Fred got back down to business.
"What we have to do now is think of a flashier design, better insults and we have to create one for each team member…which reminds me…we don't have a Keeper anymore."
Harry nodded, "Yeah, I am a bit worried about that myself. I hope that our new Keeper, whoever they may be, can live up to what Oliver did with our team."
The other three boys nodded as they heard the front door downstairs slam. Mr. Weasley and Percy had just arrived home. They both had had a long day at the Ministry and the expressions on both of their faces showed it. Six kids that had previously been chilling out upstairs had descended to the ground floor to greet the two arrivies.
"Daddy," Ginny yelled, running up to her father and flinging herself at him.
"Ginny, it is so good to see you again! How was your third year at Hogwarts? Good, I trust. Don't worry we'll talk all about it at dinner. Fred, George, Ron, how are my sons?"
"Fine, dad," Ron replied.
"Ditto," the twins answered in unison.
"Hermione, I am glad to see you again," Mr. Weasley said, "I take it you and Mr. Potter are back for the summer. It is so wonderful to have you. We are honored."
"Thank you, Mr. Weasley," Hermione replied politely, "I love being here."
"Harry," Arthur exclaimed, "How was the tournament? I want to hear all about the third task later. Good evening, Molly, dear. I am ---"
Mr. Weasley stopped abruptly as he caught sight of the look on his wife's face.
"Arthur, I need to speak to you in our room…now."
The two of them trudged upstairs while a group of eyes followed them. Percy spoke immediately.
"Fred and George, what have you don't this time? It must have been terrible to have made mum call dad upstairs for a chat ---"
"As a matter of fact, Percy," Fred began, "we didn't do anything."
"Yeah," George chimed in, "and as a matter of another fact, we have no idea what mum is mad about."
"What are we standing here for, then," Ginny asked and ran up the stairs as quickly and as quietly as she could.
Her brothers and friends followed. They gathered close to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's bedroom door, but through all of the bustling, they could only make out parts of the conversation.
"…you absolutely…"
"Arthur, I…in my…"
"Dumbledore…you…but that must…"
"Yes, that…why…too…"
Harry sighed, "This is no use. With seven people gathered around this door, moving and fighting, we can't hear anything."
No one listened to Harry, who finally retired to the common room. He sat on the couch and thought about the future and what was to come.
It was a few weeks later and Harry, Ron, Fred and George were up to what they had been up to since the beginning of the summer – creating Wizard Wheezes. Even with all of the noises coming from the room, the four boys managed to keep Mrs. Weasley at bay.
The time was almost six thirty and Mrs. Weasley was getting worried. Mr. Weasley and Percy were supposed to have been home over an hour ago and she didn't know how much longer she could continue to cook the dinner before it burned. Finally, she just called the kids to the table and served them their dinner.
It was after seven when Mr. Weasley and Percy finally walked in.
"You wouldn't believe what has been happening at the Ministry," Percy exclaimed as he hugged his mother, "We have had ten workers quit today and Fudge has been having to pay people to stay."
"Why in the world would people be leaving," Mrs. Weasley asked.
"Voldemort is back, of course," Mr. Weasley exclaimed, "They are scared because they know that Malfoy is a Death Eater ---"
"Arthur, I don't want you getting into and argument with that man and you mentioning his loyalties to Voldemort. Imagine what it could do to us…"
Mr. Weasley swallowed hard and nervously answered, "Yes, dear."
"Well, the good news is," Percy began as he grabbed for a roll, "that Fudge doubled both mine and father's pay."
Mrs. Weasley's eyes began to glow, "Is this true, Arthur?"
Mr. Weasley nodded, "I was going to tell you later, as a surprise…"
Percy hunched over his dinner. Ron, who was standing at the landing of the stairs beside Harry, smiled.
